My 2 cats Squeak and Misty that I have had since they were 8 weeks old are now about 2 1/2. Last monday my wife and I walked in the door to find Squeak all hunched down growling and hissing as Misty was making her way down the stairs. We do have a cat in the nieghborhood who looks like Misty, a grey cat that I am guessing squeak might have saw outside and is what started all of this. The thing is Squeak is all of a sudden terrified of Misty. So we have kept Squeak in a bedroom locked up at night while Misty has the rest of the house at night and at about 7am we switch them. Got Feliway in the bedroom, and there has been some progress, they at least can look at each other for several seconds before one begins to hiss and somebody gets locked up. I have had many cats in my life for 30+ years and never seen this. I'm not exactly sure what to do next, I have some cat carriers I built that are mostly screens. I thought maybe I could put them in 1 each and put them several feet away so they can get used to at least looking at each other at a distance, this is really getting old fast, tips would help please.

A similar thing happened to my cats last year when a neighbor cat came to the window to visit. Ganymede and I were upstairs when Callisto started hissing and screaming downstairs at the window. We both ran down to see what was going on. Callisto turned on Ganymede like she thought he was the intruder! She then proceeded to hide under the couch for the remainder of the night. For two weeks they fought - Ganymede would chase her into hiding (usually under the couch) and he would sit there patiently until she came out and then they would get into it. I woke up in the middle of the night with them chasing each other while spitting/hissing on top of me! It was very scary and my house was very tense. After two weeks things finally calmed down and they were able to tolerate each other's presence again. I am so glad that cat has not come back!

The weird part was they have seen cats outside before, but both were at the window at the same time instead of just one seeing the intruder. I never physically separated my two like you have done, but that is probably a good idea and should speed up the process. I will say things haven't really been the same with them. They don't play or groom each other anymore, Ganymede really only picks on Callisto now. They tolerate each other though and are not vicious or anything, but it still makes me sad that a silly little thing like an unknown cat outside could change their relationship so much!

Often it is just one incident like you've experienced that will upset a formerly good relationship between two cats. I had one such thing with two half brother and half sister cats who had grown up together as kittens. They got along very well playing with each other until the girl had a litter of kittens, and her half brother got too close to them and she attacked him. Since that one incident he had a hate-on for her and attacked her frequently, especially if I paid her any attention. They never did become friends again. When the boy died at 15, his half sister was the happiest cat and came out of hiding away and being passive and became an affectionate lap cat that she couldn't be when her half brother was around. So some cats with time do resolve their differences and go back to being buddies, but in some instances the bond is broken.

You can try and restore some friendliness by always giving them treats together or playing with them together, so that they get the idea that good and fun things happen when they're together. Sometimes it works and sometimes not. Good luck!

__________________"There are no ordinary cats." "Time spent with a cat is never wasted." ~ Colette

What you said about when the 2 saw a cat outside together is the same a me, the grey cat outside comes by every now and then and when they saw him together they were ok. Squeak was at the door by herself when we walked in through the garage and seen all this take place. She peed and crapped where she was doing all this fussing about. Ok well I guess I'll just give it time. I'll let yall know how it turns out.

I agree with what catloverami said, try different activities with them to bring them together in a positive way. Might also be worth trying to take them somewhere neutral that they both aren't familiar with to give them some even ground. If they are tolerating each other with just a few hisses, it might be worthwhile to just let them hash it out? Obviously if things get too violent, separate them, but being in each other's presence would probably be good for them.

Unfortunately there's no telling how much time it will take. My boss has two cats and this has happened with them too, but they will fight for only a day or two and then be back to normal again. My case was a couple weeks, but it could take even longer than that. I hope they get over it soon!

my wife got out of bed this morning half asleep and forgot to close the door behind her (Misty was in there) 5 minutes later we heard hissing, growling dare I say screaming? Misty had followed Squeak downstairs and cornered her in a bathroom, we seperated them. Squeak had the hair standing up on her back and a poof tail, but she got over it within 10 minutes, much better than before. So a bit ago I put each in a cage in the hallway about 6 feet apart. Squeak was all hunched down hissing about once a minute, some growling. Misty was kinda just bored with the whole thing. After about 10 minutes I decide that was enough for awhile. I have no idea if this is going to work but at least they cant get at each other. The idea of taking them to neutral ground sounds interesting I might have to give that a try.

Well it has been about a month. I have them still seperated. twice a day I put them in seperate carriers, and put them near each other. They both hiss at each other a few times and wait out the 30 minutes I keep them there then they get swapped. one goes to a bedroom and one get the rest of the house. Tonight we decided to hold them both for some out of the cage time and moved them close together, that went really worse than I had hoped. Hissing from both cats and Squeak actually barked! Maybe restraining them wasn't a good idea, I need some help I don't know what do do next.

After continuing with separating them, Squeak would spend the night locked up, and Misty having the house, one day I guess in January Squeak decided she didn't want to be locked up anymore so she practically beat down the door. It so happend I had to be up extra early that morning so I put her in her cage, and she bust out of that too! So I said ok you want out here you go and freed her to the rest of the house, and she and Misty sniffed each other, and hissing and growling went on. Squeak slept with me that night, and has ever since. We began letting them out together supervised. As time went on they have been getting along ok most of the time. I still dont let them alone together when I'm gone for long periods, but I do close them up in my room at night and they lay beside each other and sleep. So I guess the moral of the story is don't give up, it took 4 months for me to get this far.

Just hope you sort it all out - I am glad to say that over the years my cats have seen loads of outdoor cats (it's normal here) passing windows and I am so grateful that none of them have reacted at all like this. Good luck!

Oh a happy ending (kind of!) I'm going through something like this now. Two of my cats bully a third one and I usually keep the bullied girl in our bedroom. I bring her out once a day for several hours while I put the bullies in a cat playpen. Last night the main bully (who oddly was the runt of her litter) managed to pick the zipper seams apart at the door and got out without us seeing. Next thing we know there's a huge cat fight going on in the kitchen.

I've been separating them for a few months now but haven't seen a change. I read today to sequester them both in a spare room with one in a dog kennel with a litter box & bed and leave them like that for a week till they start getting along through the bars. Then supervise playtime while giving treats and playing with both. If one regresses then back to the cage. I'm going to start that process and hope it works.